Tennis: Billy Harris secures spot in Wimbledon main draw

The former Island player has defeated China's Yi Zhou in four sets (1-6, 7-6, 6-2, 6-3) in the final qualifying round of the Gentlemen's Singles at the Community Sports Centre in Roehampton this afternoon.

It takes the former Albany and Castletown competitor into the Wimbledon main draw which is due to start next week.

Furthermore, it'll be a third consecutive year in the main event for Harris after also featuring in 2024 and 2025.

Set one belonged to Zhou as he first raced into a three-game lead before Harris pulled one back to make it 3-1.

But any early comeback was short-lived as Zhou responded with three more consecutive games to take a commanding first set.

Things changed, however, in set two as a much more even contest saw both players trade game-for-game, only separated late on by Harris winning on a tie-break to level the match.

The momentum then swung in the direction of Harris in set three as he took three of the first four games to gain control - then, two games later at 4-2 to Harris, the 31-year-old managed two more games of his own back-to-back to secure the third set.

As the contest entered set four, Harris took an early advantage to lead 3-1 after Zhou had won the opening game - that early push would prove decisive as Harris held onto his advantage to eventually wrap up the set and match overall.